PMD: Redundancy
by Zencolour
Summary: You wake up inside the world of Pokemon, but things are not that simple! Just how you arrived is a question for statisticians as much as for the mysterious force which sent you. At best, you might be dropped within the general vicinity of the planet with a success rate as low as you'd expect. Satire of the logistics behind PMD. M rated for an excessive number of Mudkips. Insanity.
1. TRIAL 1: No redundancy

**PMD: Redundancy**

* * *

You wake up inside the world of Pokemon, but things are not that simple! Just how you arrived is a question for statisticians as much as for the mysterious force which sent you. At best, you might be dropped within the general vicinity of the planet with a success rate as low as you'd expect. Satire of the logistics behind PMD. May contain disturbing scenes and an excessive number of Mudkips.

* * *

/ REDUNDANCY /

* * *

**[TRIAL 1: No redundancy]**

* * *

_Redundancy is The duplication of critical functions of a system with the intention of increasing the reliability of the system. Typically, redundancy refers to the duplication of critical components within a system in the form of backups or fail-safes._

* * *

**Occhiolism**

The awareness of the smallness of your perspective, by which you couldn't possibly draw any meaningful conclusions at all about the world, or the past, or the complexities of culture; because although your life is an epic and unrepeatable anecdote, it still only has a sample size of one, and may end up being the control for a much wilder experiment happening in the next room.

From 'The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows' by John Koenig

* * *

The Traveller

* * *

"_I first met __**The Traveller **__when it became apparent that in order to maintain balance in one universe, I must transpose a being from one realm to the next. As to why remains a frivolous question and although I do like questions, this fails to be of importance._"

We may regard the speaker merely as some form of _mysterious force. _It is difficult to constrain their true nature into something fathomable to the average human being. Their mannerisms match that of a confused gentleman seeking a certain location but who is too prideful to seek assistance. If they had a favourite colour it would be purple, but only because it was difficult to rhyme with anything non controversial. If the _mysterious force_ was a physical being, them they had a distinct distrust of plain speech over enigmatic idioms.

"_Transposition has high accuracy but low precision._"

The _mysterious force_ continued. If it was human, the being would have rolled the words around their mouth as if savouring the taste of their own gibberish.

"_Within what is effectively an infinite universe, trying to relocate a human being from one planet to another is non-trivial. Early attempts at transporting humans to the Pokemon universe was initially unsuccessful._"

Here we shall pause the narrative, for therein lies our first fallacy.

The _mysterious force _was either unable to comprehend the nature of what is dismissed as being _unsuccessful_, or their potent arrogance made such concern for others superficial. The statement provided is an abhorrent understatement of a truly gruesome and horrific event. True insanity is completing the same action over and over and expecting the same results.

Put bluntly, the chances of success for a 'human' is teleported to another world whilst being transformed into a Pokemon is very low. At best, a transported **Traveller** can be dropped within the general vicinity of the planet. For a statistician this might be highly commendable. For an organism, such low odds of surviving are not favourable. Being _near _a planet is not the same as landing safely on the surface by any means. Even getting to within one percent of the planet's radius in height from the surface, there a mere one-in-two-hundred-thousand chance that a teleported human would survive the transposition. It's more likely they'd fall from a few kilometers altitude and splatter against the surface.

For a whole universe of an uncountable number of galaxies, let alone planets, it's no wonder the _mysterious force _felt pleased with itself just for getting that close. For the unfortunate soul being teleported however, that wasn't good enough. The chances of surviving such an ordeal were alarmingly slim.

To counteract this issue, the _mysterious force _felt obliged to add a certain fail-safe to guarantee success. In this case, a fail-safe can be defined as an operation that comes into use in order to prevent a certain outcome. For the incognizant and ever prideful _mysterious force, _it was a matter of trying and trying again until the teleportation did work and **The Traveller** landed on the surface alive.

The repercussions of this first attempt at redundancy only became known some time later...

* * *

I Herd U Liek Mudkips

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night.

Rain lashed down from the sky in sheets, thunder erupting into tendrils of lighting between thick black clouds. Water crashed down from the heavens to thump into the ground, tearing through the leaves of the trees and turning the ground into a quagmire. In a small forest clearing, a rickety hut was barely withstanding the wet onslaught. Water smashed against the window pain leaving black watery tendrils.

Azi was curled up inside. The Vulpix shivered uncontrollably, eyes darting between the window and the tin roof over her head. The latter was being struck continuously by the rainy onslaught cascading from above. Azi could barely hear herself think. As a fire-type, it was obvious that she hated the rain. The downpour outside reflected the Vulpix's own mood. Dark, foreboding, and lashed with hot sparks of anger.

Azi was couldn't sleep. Not because of the rain, but for what morning would bring. Tomorrow would begin her life as a guild member. That should have been exciting enough for the young fox Pokemon to miss out on a few hours sleep. But it wasn't. Azi had once dreamed of starting up her very own exploration team but the deadline for joining up with a partner was at sunrise. A flash of lightning illuminated the interior for an instant. The burning yellow after image of her small hut looked as drab and tired as she felt.

Rain splattered against the window and the Vulpix curled up tighter on her thin mat of straw.

Exploration, mystery dungeons...adventure! It should have been so easy! Azi had more friends then she could count on two paws, but none of them had been keen on signing up as an explorer. Most of them had openly admitted they didn't want to risk their life for mere pittance. And money wasn't the only concern. Azi had been told numerous excuses ranging from inexperience, to bad typing, to a fear of the dark. The young Vulpix had done everything she could to change their minds, but to no avail. Tomorrows deadline brought to surface all those feelings of rejection she'd suffered from the past year. The little sleep Azi had got had merely resulted in her imagining that a Mudkip had joined her team. Seriously? Azi hated water-types with a passion.

Torrential rain hammering against the tin overhead disturbed any attempted shut-eye. The wind howled and screamed through the crack in her shack, shaking the timbers and rattling a small collection of pans hanging from hooks near the doorway.

The storm hadn't been forecasted by the weather Espeon, nor seen by the local Natu that had a knack for predicting the weather. Black clouds had rumbled in from the east with grey skies morphing into a perpetual shower lasting through into the night. The curtains of rain seemed to get stronger with each other. Another boom of thunder shook her shack and the young Vulpix trembled, pushing her snout deeper into her six fluffy tails. Oh how she wanted the night to be over!

A loud boom rattled the ground, but this one sounded different from the rest. Over the high pitched cacophony of rain battering tin roofing, Azi heard the loud bang somewhere outside. It must have been close, for the Pokemon felt the ground shake under her four paws. Maybe it was an impact of some kind? Could a storm this big really start ripping up the sky?

Azi could only wonder if fear what was going on outside. There was no way on this earth she was going out in this weather to check. Sniffing even at the thought of it, the Pokemon curled up tighter and returned to her musings. Flattening her ears against her head helped damped the sound of rain shattering the ground outside.

For a few minutes Azi flitted in and out of sleep as she worried about what the morning would bring. The howling wind whipped and lashed the side of the building. It trembled under the curtains of rain in much the same was as Azi under her barrage of hopeless thoughts.

She wasn't prepared for when the sky opened above her.

A tremendous CRASH turned the night into a nightmare. The Vulpix couldn't react quick enough as Azi's house buckled under a huge impact puncturing through the roof over her head. Wood splintered. Glass smashed. Timbers went flying as an object exploded through the tin roof and splattered into the ground only a few feet away from her. The vulpix screamed, jumping back in horror as wet juices splattered over her lush red fur. Backpedaling away from the impact site, it was all Azi could do not to whine in fright as the building started to collapse around her.

There was no time to lose! She had to get out!

Azi scrambled for the door not a moment too soon. Tin and nails squealed from stress as the joints of her house began to rupture. Tucking in her tails, the fire-type bounded for the door and shoulder-barged through into the ongoing storm. Rain instantly soaked through her fur as a flash of lighting illuminated a gaping puncture wound through what had been her tin roof. She pulled her eyes away, blinking her surroundings into focus.

'What was that?' Azi muttered in fear, tails between her legs as she backed away from her house slowly.

The wood buckled and with a gust of wind it collapsed.

'NOOOO!' The Vulpix cried, jumping towards the rumble as if she could have saved any remnants of the building. The shack in the woods was all she had ever known. And now the sky hand fallen in around her and EVERYTHING WAS GONE! Only a pile of broken corrugated tin and fractured wood indicated there used to be anything there at. Pulling her ears back in fright, it was all Azi could do not to burst into tears there and then.

Rain lashing against the ground starkly reminded the Vulpix that she needed to find shelter immediately. As if to match this instinctive realisation, the sky seemed to grow darker still. Never in her life had Azi seen a storm this bad.

A high pitched whizzing sound thundered through the air. A moment of silence stung the world before a BOOM as another impact shook the ground. I yelped in shock as the sound was mimicked again, and then again in quick succession. BOOM. BOOM. The sky was literally falling over top of Azi. Each impact finished with a wet-sounding splosh like when you smashed a half-rotten pumpkin against the ground. Azi shook in fear. She didn't know where to run. Black clouds turned the once known features of her territory to a shapeless maze. Trees appeared randomly through the dense drizzle, the Vulpix dodging thick roots on instinct. Huge craters had already began to pockmark the landscape. Felled birches and even a mighty oak had been severed by the projectiles. The fire-type was forced off the path into town and into the dense underbrush.

BOOM

'Waaaa!' Azi skipped to a stop. Mud splashed her face as she blinked incongruously at the fresh crater before her wet paws. Yet another object had fallen from the sky, yet this one appeared to have survived the impact. Whatever had dropped from the heavens was soft, squidgy, and had exploded upon impact a mere metre in front of the Vulpix. Azi's paws slide in the mud as a splash of pulp from the impact splashed across her fur. The Pokemon's nose twitched at the scent of the creature before her eyes could identify it.

'That's a...a…' Azi was approaching hysterical. The fire-type bit onto her tongue and tried not to vomit.

It wasn't a comet that had fallen from the sky...nor a shooting star. It was a blue and orange Pokemon. The poor creature had most definitely died upon impact, crushed to a pulp in a bone-shattering crash. It was hard to tell what it used to be, but the blood-soaked scent warned me that it used to be a water type. Though maybe that was just the scent of rain soaking the woodland.

The sky was alight with thunder, lighting, and the unceasing rain of the bodies of Pokemon. Azi could only hope they were dead before impact. Even that thought made her retch. This was the end. Pokemon were falling out of the sky for goodness sake!

Before Azi could even contemplate the reality of what was happening, another whizz and a BOOM pushed the Vulpix into a sprint. The sound of blood pounding in the Vulpix's ears was loud enough to compete with the howl of the wind through the trees. She had to escape from what was steadily becoming a nightmare.

This was it.

This was armageddon.

Azi's small paws sunk into the thick mud as the Vulpix ran in the opposite direction from the exploded Pokemon. Though, it was rapidly become clear that they were everywhere. Blue and orange bodies had shattered through the trees, bulldozed through the ground; made even more horrific by the muffled splatter of fat raindrops across the sparse woodland.

Azi tasted salty tears mixed in with the raindrops dripping down her muzzle. And behind it, the muggy tang of blood and death. A loud whizz warned of another incoming impact. Azi winced from the splat, now aware of what the falling objects really were. Such knowledge only propelled her to run as fast as her vulpine legs could carry her.

Azi almost ran straight into the stream. The small brook meandered close to the path, but she was so far off-track that she somersaulted into the wide ditch before she could catch herself. With a yelp, the Vulpix tumbled down a muddy slope and splashed into a narrow river. Intuitively, her paws pulled as the water in an attempt to keep her furry head about the surface. However, the weight of six tails attempted to pull her back under.

Added flood water from the intense rainstorm rushed down the gully. Doggy Paddling for dear-life, Azi struggled for breath. A front paw pushed at something hard as she bobbed between what she at first thought to be boulders. But something wasn't right. Boulders didn't float.

Blinking river water from her eyes, Azi struggled to swim to the shore as floating rocks began to clog the small water way. She batted one out of her face, struggling to keep swimming. The Pokemon wasn't prepared for the rounded mass to turn over revealing large vacant white eyes staring back. A blue face, glazed over with a bloated mouth half agape. Blood was leaking from a head wound that split the water-types head like a coconut.

Azi screamed. That was, until she swallowed a mouthful of water and almost choked. Pushing furiously at the water with her four paws, she tried to pull herself out of what was quickly becoming a ball-pit of bloated dead water-types. Mudkips. They were blue backed, white bellied, floating _corpses_ rubbing against her fur as Azi began to panic. She needed to get out. Sucking in a deep breath and the stench of death burnt her nostrils.

The river was completely saturated with Mudkips when Azi managed to pull herself free. There was no thought to her motions, only a wild and feral need to escape the nightmare. Scrabbling at the bank, she struggled to stay on her feet as she ran as fast as she could away from the river. The plug of bodies was being flushed downstream. Floodwater was already spreading across the muddy forest floor as the Vulpix ran blindly towards what she hoped was the town.

BOOM!

Another body hit the ground in front of her. The Mudkip was smashed to bits even as it crashed through a tree and splattered against the ground. Azi was too terrified to even scream when damp spongy flesh was splattered across her face. Panting, trembling, Azi only tried to run faster and faster. The world was collapsing around her.

The end had come.

This...This was Mudkipageddon.

Craters were everywhere. The forest was being battered on all sides by both the impacts and the ferocious storm. Azi stumbled and fell more times than she could count. Wet mud coated the Vulpix's once pristine ruby fur, blood and Mudkip flesh splattered her beautiful sleek tails. Azi couldn't aggrieve even as she slid once more and struggled to keep all four paws on the ground. There was only one thought on her mind as yet another BOOM shook the ground. _Escape._

Azi didn't know how long she was running for. She'd almost been hit on numerous occasions by the falling bodies which seemed to be arriving in greater numbers. The splat of bodies hitting the ground at terminal velocity had become a perpetual white noise. Many of the Mudkips had become skewered on the long branches of trees, only to fall off with a squelch. Dodging left and right, Azi rapidly grew desensitised to the sight of crushed remains, broken corpses, and the disseminated Mudkip organs literally littering the ground.

But they weren't only falling from the sky. Oh no! That fact suddenly became apparent when what could only be described as an earthquake ruptured the ground to her left. Azi was swept off her feet by the sudden shaking and as a huge crack zig-zagged through the forest. There was no time to prepare for what came next. From the gaping hole erupted a fountain of fine mush and the white edge of pulped bones. Mudkips were coming up from below. The geyser peaked as high as the trees before mingling with the storm. A flash of lighting burnt the image into the back of the Vulpix' eyes.

There were no part of her left to register the horror.

Azi's only goal was the flee such madness.

The view of the town through the trees was like seeing heaven one step from hell. The Pokemon cried in delight at the vision of the short highstreet and suburbs illuminated in a merry orange glow. Surely she would be safe there, hidden behind the guild's high stone walls?

It was only when she got into the outskirts of town that Azi realised just how wrong she was.

Fires illuminated the urban buildings. Even in the downpour, bright orange flames were licking at the buildings. Huge gusts of wind only seemed to fan the fire, making it burn brighter and hotter. Where before there had been houses, now there was only ruins. Where before had stood evidence for civilisation there was nothing. Only the sight of broken buildings turned to collenders from the impacts. No roof was left standing.

No! This couldn't be right!

Azi skidded through the suburbs, sidestepping around huge craters before slipping round a corner on the main highstreet. With a yelp, Azi only stopped herself in the nick of time. Red-stained mud splashed into the void before her, A huge crack, wider than she was tall, had opened-up between the broken store fronts. There was a low gurgling noise before a huge geyser erupted, and then another.

Mushed up, as well as whole mudkips were foaming out of the ground even as more and more cascaded down from the sky. Azi ducked as a falling blue body shot like a cannon shot through a building to her left. The sky was dark not from rain clouds, but the sheer number of bodies falling from the heavens.

So may Mudkips were accumulating that their remains began to coat the ground in a thick red sludge. Blue spongy skin only acted to save later Mudkips from impact, cushioning the impacts. So many were falling from the sky and erupting from the ground that a thick gruel was starting to coat the town. All hope at escaping fled the small Vulpix in an instant. The town was destroyed. There was nowhere else left to go.

Azi backpedaled from the high street, jumping into a run as a small wave of bodies began to rush towards the Vulpix. Bleating in fright, she rushed backwards away from the tsunami of decapitated Mudkips. A body splattered onto the street next to her, showering the Vulpix. Dazed, she slid across slick cobblestones before the blue wave of dismembered water-types smashed into her. In an instant she was consumed by the thick sludge.

Azi screamed.

She fought with her paws to try and keep her head above the warm, thick tide but it wasn't enough. The dense mix of floodwater and dead Mudkips was too dense to fight. There was no strength left in the Vulpix as she began to succumb. The last thing Azi felt was mushy material squeezing against her muzzle as she fell victim to the ever deepening mass of Mudkips. She screamed one last time only to choke of the mixture squeezing into every pore of her body.

This was the end.

* * *

REDUNDANCY

* * *

"_There were indeed a number of issues to consider to ensure the safe arrival of __**The Traveller**__._" The _mysterious force_ continued after a moment's contemplation. They twisted the words into a net of casual conversation, as if to hide the sinister undertones implied by such a statement. There was little in the way of inflection in their tone. No emotion to even hint at the monstrosity they had committed.

"_Considerations were required to apply more representative and by extension more achievable constraints. Partly, to ensure that initial success has a higher probability than earlier attempts."_

Anyone that has studied the nature of education, or any theories regarding the learning cycle, may understand the underlying issue. Although their active experimentation was commendable, the _mysterious force_ lacked the reflective observation required to conceptualize potential solutions. In fact, it took numerous attempts for the _mysterious_ _force_ to learn from their mistakes. Only after four failed instances of human to Pokemon relocation were any redundancy plans initiated.

"_Adding further conditions prior to the transposition of the human provided better odds for a human's safe arrival. Things to consider include air pressure, as a measure of altitude, of course, and the topography of the surface._"

Something that was a little too late for a large number of Pokemon.

It was also too late for a whole planet when initial testing of transportation occurred. It may take a stretch of the imagination to fathom an entire globe being coated with a twenty-one metre deep layer of deceased Mudkips. Nonetheless, the result was a lost, lifeless planet for which a transported human was the end of civilisation, not the saviour of it.

Later attempts were more successful.

Slightly more successful, that is.

* * *

XXX

* * *

AUTHOR NOTES:

PMD: Redundancy is a collaboration between Zen (Zencolour) and R'love (Just-A-Reader0Love), and will wrap up as a three-shot. The story plays with the logistics behind how a human may be transported to the Pokemon world. It casts some rather dark humour over the possible difficulties in relocating a human to a different planet, and why the _mysterious force_ at work behind such an effort may not be as savvy as we may first expect.

This fiction was partly inspired by the PMD gates to infinity opening, as well as Zen considering morbid time loops after a certain scene within the book 'The Abyss Beyond Dreams' by Peter F. Hamilton. Redundancy is a side project alongside FH and Error. As such, there is no time schedule for uploading at present. This fiction is rated M for obvious reasons.

R'love wishes to add that Azi the Vulpix is saved from the horrid event, and that neither of us have a vendetta against Mudkips. Later chapters will focus more on efforts by the _mysterious force_ to add fail-safes. As a result, later chapters should be less...uh...messed up than this chapter.

Thanks for reading!

* * *

XXX


	2. TRIAL 2: Dual modular redundancy

**PMD: Redundancy**

* * *

You wake up inside the world of Pokémon, but things are not that simple! Just how you arrived is a question for statisticians as much as for the mysterious force which sent you. At best, you might be dropped within the general vicinity of the planet with a success rate as low as you'd expect. Satire of the logistics behind PMD. May contain disturbing scenes and an excessive number of Mudkips.

* * *

/ REDUNDANCY /

* * *

**[TRIAL 2: Dual modular redundancy]**

* * *

_Redundancy is The duplication of critical functions of a system with the intention of increasing the reliability of the system. Typically, redundancy refers to the duplication of critical components within a system in the form of backups or fail-safes._

* * *

**Lachesism**

"The desire to be struck by disaster. To survive a plane crash, to lose everything in a fire, to plunge over a waterfall. Anything to put a kink in the smooth arc of your life, and forge it into something hardened and flexible and sharp, not just a stiff prefabricated beam that barely covers the gap between one end of your life and the other."

From 'The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows' by John Koenig

* * *

The Traveller

* * *

"_I initially considered whether the type of Pokémon that __**The Traveller**_ _was transformed into would adjust the odds of survival. Although it is standard to isolate variables to test each potential influence, these variables were measured inside constraints ulterior to otherwise environmental considerations."_

The _mysterious force_ stated that latter point rather blandly. Such tone was unusual in itself, given that the self-centred persona of the speaker was often so self-congratulating that every and all intonation was unnecessarily tenacious.

"_Trial and error in this case was...unsatisfactory, given what had already occurred previously."_

This was the first indication that the _mysterious force_ had in any way learnt from their previous mistakes.

"_The lack of redundancy during early attempts was initially countered by mass-transposition so that even if statistically unlikely, an unfavourable outcome would eventually occur. Physical laws outside of hypothetical space made such a method impractical, however."_

By that, the celestial being off-handedly overlooked the mass genocide of four planets as _impracticalities_ rather than the inhumane disasters they were. It could be considered that, because the _mysterious force_ worked at universe-scales where minute details like people were infinitesimally small, such things might be forgivable.

"_Fighting types proved the most resistant to natural damage, including falling from great heights."_

But it was comments such as this which proved the _mysterious force_ was not unaware of said things, just uncaring. Psychopathic is a label that could be used. However, that assumes there was some form of sanity there in the _mysterious force_ in the first place. If the speaker was a fruit, it would have been a pomegranate, what being a fruit inside a fruit...and still unfruitful in the ripest of meanings. Such was their distaste for anything short of elegantly baroque gibberish.

"_To avoid the excessive buildup of material that resulted from multiple attempts at transposition, recycling __**The Traveller **__was attempted. Repeated teleportations of the same soul in different forms added a level of redundancy which proved marginally more successful."_

Here we shall once more pause the narrative, as therein lies our second fallacy.

The _mysterious force _may have corrected for the possibility of drowning a planet with the deceased bodies of failed transported humans, but it failed to consider the human aspect to the operation. People (and Pokémon too for that matter) are fragile creatures who can only withstand a finite amount of trauma. Simply put, death is a terrifying experience. Dying multiple times however, often in quick succession as _**The Traveller**_ underwent numerous exotic ends, is enough to drive anyone insane. That is not even considering the effect of multiple transformations through different forms. Simply consider what that would do to a body.

Although certain allowances had been made, the speaker's gameplan remained largely unchanged. Once more it was a matter of trying again and again until the teleportation did work and, in whatever form, _**The Traveller **_landed on the surface alive. It was repetitive tasks such as this that proved the _mysterious force_ was truly insane.

The impact of this inability to compensate for their own fallacies gradually became known...

* * *

It Hurt Itself in Its Confusion!

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night.

Rain lashed down from the sky in sheets, thunder erupting into tendrils of lightning between thick black clouds. Water crashed down from the heavens to thump into the ground, tearing through the leaves of the trees and turning the ground into a quagmire. In a small urban town, on a quiet street, a tall hotel was confidently withstanding the wet onslaught. Water smashed against the window pain leaving black watery tendrils.

Azi was curled up inside. The Vulpix shivered uncontrollably, eyes darting to the window whenever a bolt of lighting cascaded from the sky. As a fire-type, it was obvious that she hated the rain. The downpour outside reflected the Vulpix's own mood. Dark, foreboding, and lashed with hot sparks of anger.

Azi couldn't sleep. Not because of the rain, but for what morning would bring. Tomorrow should have begun her life as a guild member. That should have been exciting enough for the young fox Pokémon to miss out on a few hours sleep. But it wasn't. Azi had once dreamed of starting up her very own exploration team but the deadline for joining up with a partner was at sunrise, _even _amidst the growing calamity.

A flash of lightning illuminated the hotel interior for an instant. The burning yellow after-image of her small room looked as drab and tired as she felt. And it was still a rip-off.

For weeks now, strange Pokémon had been terrorising the nearby towns and mystery dungeons. At least, more than normal. At first it had been a few odd sightings of strange rabid creatures that were written off as ghost stories to ward-off young foolish adventurers. Azi had been in the category herself, too concerned by tails of toothed Grimers and winged Ratatata to stray far from home. Mutated Pokémon? It was ridiculous!

Then townsfolk started disappearing.

The first case occurred a few days after the first reports from the outskirts of mystery dungeons. Deformed Pokémon had begun attacking adventuring guild members, before disappearing without a trace. Those that survived the attacks would left wounded by huge bite-marks ripping flesh from bone. Many Pokémon weren't that lucky however. They were found half-eaten and with their eyes gouged out.

Townsfolk weren't prepared for sudden and unpredictability of the attacks near their city walls. A certain Sentret had been out picking berries one evening and never returned. A search party was formed the following morning. However, they only found a bloodied trail of Pokémon-tracks leading back to a rather unsavoury final resting place. Rumours suggested there was nothing left but bones. Others, that even the marrow had been gnawed clean from the ferret-Pokémon. The next night four more Pokémon failed to appear at their jobs in the guilde, later found to be slaughtered in their own homes.

News got delayed on its route to the outskirts of town where Azi normally lived. When she finally heard about the developing madness of mutant Pokémon attacks, the young Vulpix quickly decided that a lengthy holiday in a safe urban setting might not go uncalled for.

It was with a combination of fear and a strange hopefulness of finding an exploration partner that Azi followed her normal route into town. Booking a small but tidy room at the Green Dragonite Hotel for a week helped but her worries to bed. Sleeping behind thick stone walls surrounding by hundreds of Pokémon was much more comforting than alone in a shed in the woods.

That was, until the first reports of attacks _inside_ the city walls started coming in. A lone Ampharos from the guild worked their way from door to door to warn of the dangers. Rumours spread faster however, and the town went into complete lockdown; Pokémon too afraid to leave their homes less the silent killer hit again.

There was no methods nor consistency to the attacks. Whatever was murdering the innocent Pokémon appeared from thin air. They failed to be contained by any street, shop, or apartment. Like a disgruntled ghost type, death and dismay seeped through the town like a plague. The attacker would quickly dispatch of whatever Pokémon they came across only to evaporate without a trace. They'd leave no trace, except for the blood-stained footprints leaving behind their butchered prey. Although the killer disappeared, their victims were left in congealing pools of their own blood.

Initially the growing numbers of cases was shrugged off as the work of a rapidly moving psychopath. That was, until a murder occurred behind locked doors at an elderly Grunbull's flat. Whoever the attacker was, solid stone walls failed to hold them at bay. Nobody was safe.

The only thing that the investigating guild members knew was that no attack happened simultaneously.

Whatever horror stories had been circulating before the lock-down became true during one failed attack. A Vaporeon had stepped out of the shower to find a mutated creature waiting for her on the other side of the curtain. There had been a small scuffle before, miraculously, the attacker simply vanished. It was in a state of shock that she struggled to describe the Pokémon; a stone beast that seemed to be all fists, fangs, and daggers. The resident Meowstic had been too scared to leave their home to clarify the tale by mind-reading. Investigating guild members wouldn't have believed the story if not for the broken floor boards and huge scratches decorating the Vaporeon's hide.

With the threat of attacks appearing to increase hourly, Azi was gobsmacked when the hotel owner came to evict her from the room.

The Vulpix was lying on the provided padded bed when a loud knock came at the door. She was lying on the provided padded bed when a knock came at the door. The owner, a rather chubby Watchog didn't even wait for permission to enter. Bumping the door open, they stuck their head round with a grimace.

'Oi, last check out was before ten. What you still do'n here?' He grumbled through a beard of white fur, 'Pack up then! Unless you want to pay for an extra night? It's damn almost nine already!'

'B...but-!?' The fire-type went to complain but was shut down by the towering Watchog

'You think this hotel runs itself? This place ain't a charity, either you pay or you leave!'

Azi knew the last of her coin was running low. She got up and padded over to her small collection of possessions anyhow. It was rather embarrassing to find her money pouch, well, empty apart from a loose few copper Poke coins. The Watchog's unamused stare spoke volumes. The Vulpix packed hastily under that dark stare, trying and failing to get her point across about the dangers outside.

And that was how she found herself stood out on the hotel doorstep in the rain.

It had been dark for hours now. Nobody had dared wander the streets to light the gas lamps. Huge raindrops splattered against the cobblestones as the Vulpix huddled in the doorway of the Green Dragonite. Azi had failed to befriend anybody willing to share shelter. Not that anyone would dare open their doors on a night like tonight. Even the guild had closed their offices only yesterday to focus on the increasing number of reported murders. In a town devoid of trust and hospitality, there was nothing Azi could do but sob.

'Home it is.' She shakily whispered under her breath. The idea of walking twenty minutes through dark woodland back to her shack left a sour taste in Azi's muzzle.

Anything could be waiting in the dark for her...

The rain poured down on the fire fox Pokémon, drenching her tails. Thunder cracked. _Gods, why did it have to be raining tonight of all nights?_ The muck-ridden ground beneath her paws squished and squashed as she forced herself to waddle through the downpour. It didn't take long to reach the city walls, although by that time Azi was near-sick of the constant patter of rain upon her mussed fur. It was better to take a detour through the denser trees to avoid the fire-type being drowned in the rain.

It was only when she was a few paces deep into the woodland that the Vulpix realised her mistake. _Why did I ever think this was a good idea?_ A brisk, damp breeze caught at her tails as the fox shivered. Looking around, she now realized how truly dark it was this late at night. Anything could be hunting in these woods.

A rustle of the nearby grass nearly gave Azi a heart attack.

'It's nothing. Just head back quickly.' She muttered under her breath, 'Just get back quietly.'

The lone screech of a Hoot-Hoot echoed between the trees.

'Nothing would be out in this weather...' The Vulpix continued to assure herself.

Fear was etched into Azi as she followed the forest path back to her home. Another boom of thunder ripped through the sky. The fire-type yelped, diving for cover under a bush. It took a long time to extract herself from the foliage.

'It's N-Nothing…' She pitifully tried to calm herself. Doubts of every kind bubbled in her mind. Each twig snapped was a warning of a silent attacked. Each howl of the wind a possible murder waiting to strike. Leaves rustled in the leaves. Rain splattered against the ground.

A chill trembled down Azi's spine.

The Vulpix scanned the path ahead. Wait...was she imagining that low growl? It was just the branches creaking in the wind right? Taking another soggy step forward, Azi perked her ears up in an attempt to unmask the sound. Maybe it was a weary traveller itself? Or another wild Pokémon?

The path curved a few feet ahead. Azi hovered, before sternly placing one red-furred foot before the other. A boom of thunder shook the skies. The Vulpix tried to ignore the flash of lightning that lit the thin underbrush. She couldn't let herself get scared. The quicker she got home, the better.

A loud snarl stopped Azi in her tracks.

'W-who's there?'

Another flash of lighting shot arced across the heavens. Azi yelped, blinking away the after image of a small creature curled up on the ground before her. A moment later it was gone, but the blue figure remained. It was groaning, doubled over in obvious pain. Azi eyed the creature, gaze shaky.

'Are you-'

'GGRRRrrrrrrRRR!' The creature growled back. Glowing red eyes appeared out of the bundle of fur. They blinked, pupils moving separate to each other before finally setting on the Vulpix before it. It's wide frame reverberated as it snarled back a fierce warning.

'I...I'm-' Azi took a step back, 'I didn't mean-'

Her tongue failed to make the sound in her muzzle.

A flash of lightning once more illuminated the beast. Strange black dangles on the side of its head seemed to be glowing along with their blood red eyes. Wait? Was that...was that a Riolu? The bulbous muzzle and flat head seemed a give-away. Yet something wasn't right with the creature.

The terrifying attacks of the past week failed to click in the back of Azi's mind as she took a deliberate step forward. It was clear the Riolu was in pain. Maybe she could help? The Vulpix couldn't simply leave the poor fighting-type out in the rain, what with the danger of crazy killers on the loose.

'Y-you need help, I-I think I, give me a second.' Azi fished around in their bag as she looked for a stray Oran berry. She always kept one emergencies. Maybe the Riolu was a victim of an attack? They seemed wounded.

The Riolu continued to growl, air rising and lowering its chest…and back? No, that couldn't be right? Azi blinked rain out of her eyes. The Oran berry in her paw squished as she clenched it in fear. Soft juices seeped between her toes and dripped to the wet ground. Raindrops diluted the gooey blue flesh.

The Riolu's eyes hardened on the berry.

'Here-'

'GRRRrrrrRRR!' The scent of the Oran berry must have woken something primal in the fighting-type.

They growled fiercely, eyes intent on the soft fruit still clutched in Azi's hand. A lone paw reached forward, pressing into the ground as the fighting-type tried to push themselves upright. A tongue lopped out of their mouth. It was strangely prehensile, uncurling like something amphibian to stretch towards the offered berry.

The Vulpix stumbled backwards, stammering weakly under her breath; 'Wh-wha..what in the Distortion World are you?!' The Vulpix tumbled backwards, staring at the appendage in horror as she squirmed on her rump, paralyzed by fear. The tongue snapped forward around the berry, retracted with startling speed back into the Pokémon's mouth.

Azi screamed.

The Riolu's messy attempt of eating revealed the gruesome nature of the beast. Long fang-like teeth literally dropped from their jaws as they struggled to chew on the fruit. Blood dripped with thick yellow saliva from moist lips. It appears bloated, gulping once only for the action to continue in a rolling motion down their neck. Much like an Ekans would. Ravenous eyes flicked back to the Vulpix. The left-most eyeball was rolled round in circles like a rogue cue ball.

For a few moments, Azi was frozen to the spot in a state of utter shock. Then all at once breath returned to her lungs and she backpedaled, eyes bulging in fear. As if by horrid luck, her panicked attempt of fleeing caused her to slip in the thick mud to the ground.

The Riolu gave a ghastly snarl as it hunched over, pawing the ground towards the small fox. Hunger stained it's bloodshot eyes. A low rumble from the Pokémon matched the volume of thunder booming overhead. This time the growl wasn't from its muzzle, but its bloated stomach. Azi didn't have to recall the stories of the attacks. It was starvation that drove the creature.

Lunging forward, Azi struggled in the mud to dodge the Riolu. Outstretched paws lacked any true characteristics of the name, toebeans having been replaced with spongy tentacles that wreathed and writhed in an attempt to reach the fox.

'Stt..st…Nnn...NNnooo!' Azi stuttered, too frightened to ward off the attacker. Her back feet slipped again and again as she tried to find traction. Each failed attempt to flee did little to delay the inevitable.

The Riolu rumbled, going to swipe at the Vulpix only to miss. The sluggish movement were hampered by the grotesque bulging around its elbows. Such wild movements threw the beast off-balance. Stumbling forward, the Riolu lunged again only to fall face-first into the mud. Azi screamed as a maw of thousands of teeth hissed past her wet tails. The stench of the Pokémon up this close was unbearable. Sulphur and rot couldn't be cleared by the downpour.

The creature shakily forced itself up, but the damage had been done.

What Azi saw next was the stuff of nightmares.

The Riolu tumbled to the ground with a wet squelch. Not mud, but their very form seemed to squash like rotten vegetables. Blood oozed out of cracks in their dampened fur. Skin cracked like an old sack over their bones. Azi could barely comprehend the creature. Groans of hunger turned to groans of pain as the struggled. A paw clawed at the mud in an attempt to tighten themselves. However, the motion only acted in propagating a rip across their chest.

What looked to be a mix of heart and lung spilled out in a soup of black gunk. The malformed jackal-Pokémon's eyes widened as the tear ripped downwards with the sound of wet leather.

'Ghahgh!' The Riolu squealed, spitting out a number of teeth at Azi. They lowered themselves to the ground, but the damage was already done.

'Gyyaaaahheeee…' Their eyes almost looked pleading as they wallowed in the muck of their own innards. A number of what looked like semi-beating hearts spurted blacked blood into the rain.

'EEeelllpp mmmmeee! Ssoo mooochh PaainnnNNN!'

Azi crumpled under the wails of agony.

For some reason, she couldn't pull her eyes away. The Riolu attempted to drag itself from its own pool of blood. Each previously frantic motion was now slow and weak. They continued to whimper, fur falling out from around their face as if their very form was starting to deteriorate.

With it came the strangest faint golden glow.

'Ppppleaaase! Nnnggg...Nno, Mmmhooor!'

The golden light only intensified as the creature pleaded. Blood and tears ran down their decaying snoat. One eye popped out and bounced off their nose before tumbling into the mud underfoot. The light sunk into their form. A yellow glow that soon became brighter and brighter. It was then that the Riolu's tears began to sizzle.

'AgghhhHH...GHHHHHAA!' The creature wailed. The glow became blinding. Azi closed her eyes, nostrils overpowered by the scent of charred flesh.

'BBBURRRRNNSS!'

Then nothing

One moment the deformed Riolu was there, then he was gone. It was like the Pokémon had evaporated into thin air. Only muddy footprints, quickly being demolished by the rain, suggested they had been there at all.

Azi took a ragged breath...and then another.

It was then that she fainted.

* * *

REDUNDANCY

* * *

"_The addition of dual modular redundancy, although successful for the safe teleportation of __**The Traveller**_ _to the planet surface, failed when modulating the recycling of the __**The Traveller**_ _\- as was the issue faced in early attempts as transposition._" The _mysterious force_ continued to ramble. They drew out their sentences into long knitted weaves of incomprehensible gibberish. It did little to assert the portrayal of pride in the speaker. Then again, they'd effectively tried to restore balance to the universe by setting loose mindless beasts across a planet.

"_Repeated transformations was part of the experimental process to discern whether a base number of Pokémon were hardier during the human-to-Pokémon transition. The issues faced regarding multiple transformations were only taken later when it became clear what impact this had on __**The Traveller**__."_

The _mysterious force_ felt obliged to skip over what effect their meddling really had. Transformations leave residues on a soul which, following tens if not hundreds of phase-changes, can reappear as unusual traits in a Pokémon. The stress on a body constantly undergoing state changes from one form to another is hard to fathom. Regardless. It would be very painful...to say the least.

"_Overall, the attempt at the environmental redundancy was a success, if at times unpredictable."_ The speaker continued, failing to recognise the souls they had destroyed in the process. "_However, further considerations were required if __**The Traveller**_ _was to arrive in a suitable state of mind."_

By this, the _mysterious force_ meant that _**The Traveller**_ wasn't supposed to be driven completely deranged by having their body shredded to atoms and reconstructed over and over. They might have survived the transposition this time. However, being deformed and mentally insane as a result wasn't much of an improvement.

"_Adding further conditions prior to the transposition of the human provided better odds for their safe arrival…"_

Which was an emotionless way of stating that (once more), the _mysterious force_ had got things wrong and wanted to try again. However, when only one human is required to bring balance to a whole universe, wasting a few solar systems in a couple of disparate galaxies doesn't really matter too much. Just another ruined planet undergoing extinction to add to the list.

I should admit that later attempts were indeed more successful…

But frankly, that wasn't good enough.

* * *

XXX

* * *

AUTHOR NOTES:

PMD: Redundancy is a collaboration between Zen (Zencolour) and R'love (Just-A-Reader0Love), and will wrap up as a three-shot. The story plays with the logistics behind how a human may be transported to the Pokémon world. It casts some rather dark humour over the possible difficulties in relocating a human to a different planet, and why the _mysterious force_ at work behind such an effort may not be as savvy as we may first expect.

This chapter follows the results of added redundancy, although this progression is not without error! Although less gory than Mudkipageddon, we still felt it was safer to stick with the M-rating. The deformed Pokémon in this installment were in fact inspired from Fort Haste, though in a notably more horrific form.

Once again, R'love would like to add that Azi did make it back safely...although very traumatized. She sorta became paranoid after that incident. To put it lightly. As a threeshot, the following chapter will wrap up the story and the ultimate fate of _**The Traveller**_. We shall reach the point where they don't die instantly, and keep their sanity (or most of it.). Also we couldn't miss out on the bit of a fanfic cliche of having a Riolu as the hero.

Thanks for reading!

* * *

XXX


	3. TRIAL 3: Triple modular redundancy

**PMD: Redundancy**

* * *

You wake up inside the world of Pokémon, but things are not that simple! Just how you arrived is a question for statisticians as much as for the mysterious force which sent you. At best, you might be dropped within the general vicinity of the planet with a success rate as low as you'd expect. Satire of the logistics behind PMD. May contain disturbing scenes and an excessive number of Mudkips.

* * *

/ REDUNDANCY /

* * *

**[TRIAL 3: Triple modular redundancy]**

* * *

_Redundancy is The duplication of critical functions of a system with the intention of increasing the reliability of the system. Typically, redundancy refers to the duplication of critical components within a system in the form of backups or fail-safes._

* * *

**Hiybbprqag**

"The feeling that everything original has already been done, that the experiment of human culture long ago filled its petri dish and now just feeds on itself, endlessly crossbreeding old clichés into a radioactive ooze of sadness."

From 'The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows' by John Koenig

* * *

The Traveller

* * *

_"The purpose of __**The Traveller **__was to bring balance to the universe. Transposition of a being into this realm wasn't precisely trivial, but provided a more succinct answer to the growing calamity. The exact cause of such calamity remains undefined, as it shall remain. Solution-focused integrity of the solution was the method, rather than the destination."_

It appeared that the speaker had grown tired of their own rambling, building into a growing crescendo.

With each passing moment, their speech grew more ludicrous. Whether this was sourced simply from the inability to perceive the intentions of the _mysterious force_ remains unknown. Their voice grew self-important and rather pleased as the iterations of their convoluted experiments finally began to converge. It was excitement that the _mysterious force _laid bare their own imperfections as if brandishing their flaws was an achievement unto itself. Given previous failed attempts at transporting humans, that wasn't far off the mark.

"_When time wraps around itself inside a curved universe, modelling the progression of the present resembles foreseeing the future. Where there should have been balance there was only self-perpetuating creation. For life there __**must**_ _be death. Contrast is needed to fill the dubious yet unequivocal perception of space and time itself."_

For the first time, the _mysterious force_ revealed a glimpse of their true intentions. Although they couldn't ever be perceived as a physical being, the speaker was enthralled with their own genius. It was comparable to the self-congratulation that they continued with what might have been a grin on their face. The prototype was complete and their plan was ready for action.

"_For balance there must be destruction as well as creation."_

Perhaps it was ironic, given the collateral carnage born from the speaker's failed translocation attempts, that _**The Traveller**_ purpose was revealed for what it truly was. For all their tender maintenance of the universe, the _mysterious force _lacked the savagery required to control the creations which they tended. Destruction was not in the nature of the _mysterious force_. Indeed, perhaps they were proud of the planet-shattering abolations they had triggered?

And it is here that the narrative takes a dark turn.

Perhaps the speaker had always been mad, known itself to be mad...and yet struggled to explain what madness it was that drove them. Was it a sentient being that we studied, or the self-assembling chemistry being birthed from the uncertainty of the universe itself? At this point, it no longer mattered who or even _what _the _mysterious force_ really was.

It was with necessary evil that they brought the greatest abomination to the Pokémon universe.

Now that translocation had been perfected, it was only a matter of time before their brazen plan started to unfurl...

* * *

A Wild Eevee Appears!

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night. Or, at least that's what had been _predicted_. The sky was overcast but a faint drizzle had cleared hours previously. Stars twinkled between the clouds which the local Espeon claimed should have lingered for days. The psychic had never been wrong before, so either the old Eeveelution was losing her touch…or there was something special about the drizzle outside.

Azi chose the latter. She sat in her house, sipping at a Cheri tea which was growing tepid between her paws. The Vulpix couldn't sleep. Not because of the unusual weather, but for what morning would bring. Tomorrow should have begun her new life as a guild member. Well, if not for what had happened earlier that day. Exploration, mystery dungeons, and adventure...all the things Azi could have dreamt of had finally fallen into place! Although none of Azi's friends had been interested in the prospect of exploring dungeons, a new Eevee she had befriended seemed more than keen.

The fire-type preened the back of a paw, considering the unlikely turn of events. She was too excited to even think about rest. So much had happened in the past twenty-four hours. The fox couldn't believe her luck to have everything fall into place like it had.

Azi had been walking from her house into town only that morning when she stumbled across the Eevee. He'd been half-delirious, a little bruised, but otherwise fit and healthy. After feeding him a few Oran berries, Azi guided him back into town. The Eevee had been a bit confused, but the young fire-type put it down to concussion. She popped by the town's Chansey medic with the fidgety normal-type in tow. He'd struggled to remember his name at first, nor where he was from. When the Eevee finally announced he was called Clay, it wasn't with any great certainty. He still seemed rather uncertain if he was even a Pokémon!

After sorting Clay a full courtesy check-up from the kind nurse, Azi helped the Eevee to book a room for the night at the Green Dragonite. The Eevee seemed to grow more chipper as the day progressed, theorising on how he'd ended up concussed in the woods to no avail. With little to talk about over an afternoon tea, it was Azi who ended up chatting the most. The topic of conversation quickly shifted towards her worries at becoming a guild member.

'What! That's a thing?' The young Eevee asked with wide eyes. 'Stairs just randomly appear each time?'

Clay had been interested in the prospect of mystery dungeons...and even more interested in being paid to explore them. Azi had to contain herself from squealing in delight when he agreed to join her in starting an exploration team. The Vulpix practically dragged the evolution Pokémon across town to sign-up before he could change his mind.

Azi smiled contently as she considered the turn of events. Drizzle still clung to the air, bouncing off her tin roof with a tinkle. With a small sigh, she wandered over to her bed and tried her best to sleep.

The fire-type struggled to get anywhere close, tossing and turning on her straw mat with the excitement of finally fulfilling her dream. The fire-type was up before sunrise licking the whorls from her tails. Having agreed to meet Clay on her walk into town, Azi ended up waiting over an hour to greet the friendly Eevee. Not because he was late, but because the Vulpix's enthusiasm had made her eager to leave before the guild even opened.

'Hi Clay!' Azi greeted the Eevee as soon as she spotted him on the forest path, 'Good morning!'

'Hello!' The normal-type came trotted a few steps closer before greeting the boisterous Vulpix. Azi was bouncing around her new friend, spending more time in the air than on the ground. She laughed, trying to act frustrated at the Eevee but was unable to hide her excitement.

'You ready for the big day! We're going to be explorers! Wooo!'

'Heh, sure!' Clay smiled, taken aback by the fire-types enthusiasm. Azi bumped into his side playfully, ruffling the white fur of Clay's mane.

'And why were you so late in arriving?'

'Bad luck I guess?' He tilted his head to the side, 'Though I have a feeling you might have been here a bit _too _early?'

'The early Pidgey gets the Wurmple! We're talking about the most exciting day of my life! Come on!'

Azi turned towards town, eagerly pawing at the ground. She wiggled her tails in joy. The Vulpix's fur was preened ready for a prom night, her eyes dazzling with glee. Clay didn't share the same level of excitement, though he smiled readily and bumbled over to the fire-type.

'I didn't-' Clay began a sly comment but was interrupted by a yelp from the Vulpix,

'-HEY! Be careful!' Azi scolded the evolution-Pokémon, 'You just stepped on a primrose!'

Clay froze, lifting up his front paw to study the destruction. The small yellow flower had been squished between his pads. Pollen from the delicate head stained his fluffy brown fur a vibrant yellow. The Eevee looked back and forth between his paw and the squashed plant already seeping sap on the ground before him.

'Aww you crushed it!' Azi pouted, hiding her previously incongruous shock at how something like that could happen in the first place, 'You need to look where you're going if we're ever going to be the best dungeon explorers! Imagine if that was a trap!'

Clay tilted his head in confusion.

'But it was only a flower?'

'Only a FLOWER?' Vulpix seemed aghast. 'Didn't your mother teach you that _everything_ is precious.'

'But it was just a flower right?' Clay frowned, struggling to understand how Azi had flipped from a bundle of tireless excitement to the upset Vulpix in front of him. 'They grow back?'

'Even the smallest thing is precious.' Azi recalled one of her earliest lessons as a baby Pokémon, 'And where do you draw the line? Hurting other Pokémon? Destroying an entire planet?'

Clay thought about it for a moment.

Any retort he might have conceived never came to fruit as Azi had already bounded down the forest path. The fire-type turned back to check the Eevee was following, almost tumbling over a tree root as she did so.

'Come on! No time like the present!'

* * *

REDUNDANCY

* * *

"_It didn't work"_

After waiting avidly for years as the human-come-Eevee spent their life in a mediocre rescue team, the _mysterious force_ finally admitted defeat. All their work for millennia had been spent in the hope that a human would bring balance to the universe. Clay the Eevee hadn't done much more than poke around dungeons and live out their final days with a Vulpix companion. Whereas the speaker identified themselves as a force of creation, humans were creatures of destruction! The _mysterious force _had fought with the single belief that a single human was the answer to all their problems. They had _seen it_ in the deepest future.

"_After everything...the human didn't create balance." _

Which to the untrained eye, might have appeared true. However, if the _mysterious force_ stepped back to see the bigger picture, the real outcome might have become clear. Transposing a human into the Pokémon universe hadn't been without flaws. Thousands of planets had been obliterated by the _mysterious force's_ uneducated attempts to transport a human. Heck! An entire galaxy had been filled with twice as many Mudkips as there were stars. Out of the finite number of planets with intelligent Pokémon life, over two-thirds had been terrorised by mutant Pokémon driven mad by endless cycles of painful resurrection. Even after their eventual success, nothing would make up for the thousands of failed attempts.

And amongst a universe coerced by the utter destruction of failed redundancy, the _mysterious force _pondered what they had done wrong. In their fervent self-evaluation, they failed to contemplate the mass-genocide they had propagated around themselves. The universe seethed with the failed attempts at human transportation.

As the caring creature that the _mysterious force_ claimed themselves to be, they failed to see the destruction they had caused. No, _**The Traveller**_ might not have brought balance to the universe. But for all the destruction that the speaker had created to get them there, you might propose they was _indirectly _involved.

The _mysterious force _contemplated their failure.

"_Maybe this __**Traveller **__wasn't the one…"_

* * *

XXX

* * *

AUTHOR NOTES:

PMD: Redundancy is a collaboration between Zen (Zencolour) and R'love (Just-A-Reader0Love). This final chapter wraps up the three-shot. The story plays with the logistics behind how a human may be transported to the Pokémon world. It casts some rather dark humour over the possible difficulties in relocating a human to a different planet, and why the _mysterious force_ at work behind such an effort may not be as savvy as we may first expect.

This chapter finalises the results of the final success (?) of the translocation programme, including the true role of the transported human. This chapter was notably less dark than earlier chapters, but we hope it provided a different and much more unexpected twist. Thanks for sticking with us for what ended up as an amusing and enjoyable short story to write! A huge thanks to those that have reviewed, faved, and followed. Check out Zencolour's and Just-A-Reader0Love's profiles for other edgy and completely random stories! Expect more to come in future too!

Once again, R'love would like to add their own thanks for reading! It's been quite a trip from beginning to end on this one, and we both enjoyed experimenting with the quirky style. Azi lived a long and happy life in this final iteration, so maybe it really was worth it in the end!

Thanks for reading!

* * *

XXX


End file.
